U defenseman Alt turned 20 today, average age of 'young' Gophers 21

Everyone keeps calling the Gophers a young team. In terms of college experience, they are a little green, but in actual age the average age of a Gopher this season is 21.

Speaking of ages, today (Oct. 18) is defenseman Mark Alt's 20th birthday. Two other Gophers were born in October. Defenseman Seth Helgeson turned 21 on Oct. 8, freshman forward Kyle Rau turns 19 on Oct. 24.

This season the Gophers have seven freshmen -- not an unusual number in college hockey. They have 12 sophomores -- now that is a big class. It grew by one this season because Zach Budish was granted an extra season because of medical hardship in 2010-11. He had knee surgery early last season. So Budish is a red-shirt sophomore.

Also unusual in size is the junior class with one player, Seth Helgeson. It was a small class of four to begin with, then after one season defenseman Nick Leddy signed with Chicago of the NHL and forward Josh Birkholz left to play in the Western Hockey League.

There are seven seniors this season, but that is a little deceiving because Jake Kremer is the third-string goalie and never plays and forward Joe Miller rarely plays.

So the success of this team will depend a lot on how the sophomores do.

Twenty-one of 27 players on the Gophers hockey team played junior hockey, although in freshman Kyle Rau's case it was only after his high school season. Travis Boyd, another freshman, played in the U.S. national development program.

But teams bringing in older players is happening a lot in college hockey. The Gophers are following the trend.

Here are the age numbers:

Forwards

There are 16 forwards on the team. Here is how they break down:

18 years old: three, Seth Ambroz, Travis Boyd and Kyle Rau. Rau turns 19 on Oct. 24.

20: two, Zack Budish, Erik Haula

21: one, Nate Condon

22: five, Jake Hansen, Tom Serratore, Nico Sacchetti, Jared Larson, Nick Larson

23: one: Taylor Matson

24: one, Joe Miller

Defensemen

There are eight forwards. Here is how they break down at start of the season (Mark Alt turned 20 on Oct:18, Seth Helgeson turned 21 on Oct. 8)

19: three, Ben Marshall, Mark Alt, Justin Holl

20: three, Nate Schmidt, Seth Helgeson, Blake Thomspon

22: two, Jake Parenteau, Chris Student

Goalies

20: one, Mike Shibrowski

22: one, Kent Patterson

23: one, Jake Kremer

Average age of goalies: 22 years. 1 month, 10 days (with months, weeks figured in)

UMD SLIGHTLY OLDER

UMD, the defending NCAA champion, has a slightly older team than the Gophers. The Bulldogs average age at the start of the season was 21 years, 7 months.

Here's the 'Dogs breakdown:

18: one

19: four

21: 10

22: four

23: three